At the conclusion of
the "Courtyard of the Gentiles" which was held again in Assisi - after that one
of 2012 - with the name of "Courtyard of St. Francis", an evaluation is
necessary in the light of what Saint Francis really was and preached.

The intent of this
meeting organized by the Pontifical Council for Culture for the dialogue between
believers and non-believers, is the research of a common agreement on some
"values" - basically those proclaimed by the antichristian french revolution:
liberty, fraternity and equality - around which people of different faiths or
ideologies can gather for a better human society. Not by
chance the programmatic title of this event was the word "humanity".

But what moved St.
Francis in his tireless preaching, walking barefoot trough countries near and
far, such as Syria, Egypt, Spain...? Not the simple desire for dialoguing with
others, but rather (as a participant of the meeting, Massimo Cacciari, though
unbeliever, has rightly stressed in one of his books) the fiery, impatient,
irrepressible passion for souls, that the Saint wanted to bring to salvation and
to the love of Christ, for the poor and for the Church. "My brothers, I want to
send you all to Heaven!" he exclaimed elated, returning to Assisi from Perugia,
after having obtained from the Pope a plenary indulgence for those who would
come penitent to the Porziuncola of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

But these words:
salvation, eternal life, Heaven ... have been conspicuously lacking in the five
days of "the Courtyard of St. Francis" in Assisi. Yes, the very "words of
eternal life" that St. Peter ascribed as unique prerogative to his Master, when
he said to Jesus: "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life!"
Even less the "eternal death" has been mentioned, that hell about which Francis
so often spoke in his sermons, and whose tragic reality appears even in his
marvelous Canticle of the Creatures where it is called "second death", as it is
defined in the book of Revelation. If you miss the eschatological perspective of
each of us individually and of the entire world, you miss the very essence of
the Gospel. Pope Francis some time ago reminded us that a Church without
prophecy lacks the very life of God. "Why do you say: the
word of the prophets is like the wind that has passed?" So it is written in one
of the two prophecies on Rome of Marcello Ezekiel Ciai (To the Pleasure Seeking
City, 1995), "why do you say: peace, freedom and well-being, when these things
are not there and will not be there? ...I have created the sowing and the grape
harvest; but you are only able to get drunk on your own ideas. Your wicked
thoughts have ruined all the beautiful things created by me, for you ...You
don't seek the ancient ways, and prepare for yourselves your tombs! "

"I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the
ignorant: hence my eagerness on my part to preach the Gospel to you also who are
in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who has faith ... "(St. Paul to the Romans 1:14-16). The
Apostle of the Gentiles knew the risk he was running in going to preach the
Gospel in Rome, and in fact there eventually finished to be beheaded under
Nero's persecution. I really like this fearless assertion of the apostle, that
is a counterpoint to the severe warning of Jesus: "Whoever is ashamed of me and
of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed, when he comes in the glory
of the Father and of the holy angels "(St. Luke 9:26). And I often quote this
other sentence of St. Paul: " Am I now seeking
human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were
still pleasing people, I would not be a servantof Christ!
"(Galatians 1:10). This is why I feel very uncomfortable in some interreligious
prayer meetings, like the one that took place not long ago in Assisi in the
Basilica of Saint Francescis: aside the Bishop of Assisi, there was an exponent
of Judaism and an Islamic imam. Jesus assured that when two or three agree to
ask anything in His name, they will be fulfilled. But in these prayer meetings,
in whose name do we pray, if the majority of the Jews believes that Jesus was a
false Messiah, while Muslims even deny that He died on the cross? "Name" means
"identity,
authority, power." The Jesus in whose name a Christian prays God the Father, is
the Son of God, true God from true God, the only Savior and Judge of all. He
died on the cross for the sake of all, He is risen to give, with the Holy
Spirit, the strength to keep those commandments of justice and love that
basically none of us - neither Jews nor Muslims nor Catholics - can put into
practice by ourselves. We do not help our Jews or Muslims friends if we conceal
this beautiful, saving news, for fear of meeting their dissent. Indeed, the Lord
will ask us account for this. The Apostles went to die martyrs to evangelize the
world known at their times...

In
these days, 66 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the
United Nations, from the Homeless Shelter (there are 50,000 poor and homeless
people in New York), where I was accepted during the twelve days of my mission
to New York, walking about twenty minutes I arrived at the United Nations
headquarters, to see the ancient manuscripts about St. Francis, on display at
the UN. Opposite to the entrance of the UN, there is a staircase flanked by a
wall on which there are engraved the words of the prophet Isaiah (2.4): "He
shall judge among the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall
beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more ".
The UN was established in 1945 on the ruins and the horrors of World War II with
a mirage of peace and harmony between peoples, but how many wars were following
since then!
But yet the promised peace anticipated by biblical prophets will be achieved,
but only by the hands of the One who after his resurrection reappeared to his
disciples greeting them like this: Peace be with you! The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights of 1948 in the first article is talking about freedom, equality
and brotherhood, so manifesting to be inspired by the atheist and Enlightenment
principles of the French Revolution, and not of the word of God that in every
human being sees a creature of God, created out of love in His image and loved
until the sacrifice of His Son, and therefore covered with a precious and
priceless dignity.
Two prophecies of Marcello Ciai "The Mantle" and "To the pleasure seeking City"
came to my mind, where one reads among other things: Why do you say: the word of the
prophets is like the wind that has passed? Why
do you say: "Peace, freedom and well-being", when these things are not here and
will not be? War, oppression and hunger, I will send then upon your nations.
Among the ancient manuscripts about Saint Francis, exposed for about a month, I
searched in vain if there was an old copy of the letter that St.Francis
addressed to all the rulers of the earth.
That letter seems utopian in front of the secularism that is the basis of an
organization such as the United Nations, because in the letter, completely
different from being nondenominational, St. Francis urges the leaders of nations
to follow the commandments of the Lord, to take devoutly the Eucharist, and to
banish every night among the people a time a thanksgiving prayer to God for the
benefits granted.
And the greeting that recurred frequently on the lips of St.
Francis "The Lord may give you peace" wanted to remember just this: only Jesus
can give it!

We are in the times of the "Tau", this mysterious sign with which
St. Francis, signed his letters, the last
letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Francis took it from a vision of the prophet
Ezekiel who predicted the national disaster of the people of Israel and the
destruction of Jerusalem. "Thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: The
end!", so this prophet had to report to a people who - just as so many religious
and "believers" of today - didn't believe in the implementation of the divine
visions, and in any case thought that they would be realized who knows when, in
a very remote future. "This Word of the Lord was directed to me, Son of man,
behold, the children of Israel are saying, The vision which that one sees is for
the days to come, he predicted for times far away. Well, tell them: Thus says
the Lord God: every word of mine won't be delayed any longer..." (Ezekiel 12:
26-28). The Tau, a sign of impending judgment of a by now near end, but also a
sign of salvation for all those who were branded on the forehead by the angel
that preceded the exterminator, so that they could sigh and cry for all the
abominations that they saw around them. We are in the end times, Jesus returns,
returns! But we sleep, dreamy, just as the Lord says that it was in the days
before the flood, and before the destruction of Sodom: "They didn't notice
anything!" (Matthew 24:39) We are in the end times! Eight centuries after St.
Francis a man of the land of Assisi, Marcello Ciai, had received visions that
had led him to faith, repentance, and a suffered prophetic ministry.
The first of these visions was just about the prophet Ezekiel, of which this man did not
even know the existence! The spirit of prophecy bounces over the centuries and
warns: the end is near! Jesus returns!

In an
e-mail arrived to me from England I was requested to explain what is the central
message of the prophecies of Marcello Ezekiel Ciai to which I often refer in the
mission that keeps me in Assisi night and day.

The core
of Marcello's prophecies - one, "The Mantle", of 1981, the other four of 1995 -
are recurrent extremely serious calls to repentance and conversion, in a world
that is under the wrath of God, and in the approaching of the "great day" when,
as one reads on the first prophecy of Marcello ( the Lord is the one who speaks
for himself):

"Here I
am at your pride, at your presumptuousness, at your greed, at your overbearing
nature and arrogance, at your lust, at your promiscuity, at your opportunism, at
your hypocrisy and falsity, at your avarice, at your corruption. All the money
spent in vanity and accumulated in the world up to this day, will not be
sufficient to bribe my justice. Each single word of Mine will be carried into
effect and then there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (The Mantle,
1981)."

And also
in the second prophecy addressed to Rome (To the pleasure seeking City,
1995) this warning resounds:

"Listen,
oh earth, where is your salvation? On Papeete, or in the Pope perhaps? I make
it rain according to the seasons, I have created the sowing and the grape
harvest; but you are only able to get drunk on your own ideas. Your wicked
thoughts have ruined all the beautiful things created by me, for you. Therefore
misfortune and terror will come upon you. You don't seek the ancient ways, and
prepare yourselves your tombs. Oracle of the Lord".

And the
Judgement will fall also upon many religious who don't talk and don't care of
the Lord's return:

" My son prophesy against the priests...they say in their hearts:
-The Master is coming late - and they also begin to enjoy, to eat, to drink, to
make love, to sleep, to buy and sell and argue. But tell them, so says the Lord:
When you least expect it, the Master will return, and then you’ll want to hide
yourselves in your soutane and in the altar, but my fire will unmask you and
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Oracle of the Lord".Like all the prophecies of God - who is a God of love -the aim is to
save men, and that's why a heartily plea recurs: "Repent while you have
time ! My wrath is upon the earth and my rage burns.... Come! Come and ask !

Repent
while it is still morning ! The cries of the
vespers frighten me, its mourning makes me pine".And God
who is concerned not only with the final salvation of his creatures but also
with their earthly life, inspired Marcello also to write prophecies
unequivocably fullfilled, concerning events of our times such as the earthquake
of Assisi of 1997 and the global collapse of world economy. But all in the
perspective of that time, liberatory and glorious for those who love God, when:

"The
desert shall be transformed then and thence in garden.
In a book finally they will read.
Humility will listen, justice will see.
The mocker and the jolly fellow will disappear
and nobody will be able anymore to ruin the other for nothing.
The messengers of peace will not choke themselves
and the heralds will welcome them.
The garden shall be transformed into a park
and the book into doctrine.
The Spirit of the Lord will embrace the earth
and the dead then will love one other" (Listen Assisi!, 1995).

"Do not deceive yourselves, there
is a vice that is the arrogance that leads to hell ...": so one day Marcello
refers to a couple of persons who had lived long years in a life of prayer,
renunciation to the world and service to the Church and to the people. Marcello
does not say that from himself, and would not want to say it, but the Lord had
revealed it to him in a vision for the two religious, and a prophet must refer what
he receives from God for the others, whether they hear or refuse to hear.

But how God can be so severe? One
is reminded of what happened to a monk of the desert, that after many years of
asceticism asked the Lord to know how He saw him. It was revealed to him to visit
in a nearby town a man whose way of life was comparable to that of the monk.
Arrived to the house, the monk saw two guards coming out having arrested that
man, since he was a thief!

How many surprises on the day of
judgment, about how God sees each one of us! Only God knows the hearts, and our
salvation is not as obvious as we like to believe ...

"I want the maximum punishment," said Carlo Lissi, the author of
yet another incredible tragedy of these our days,after having confessedto have killedhis wife and his two children,before hewent tofollowwith friendsthe match Italy-England of the
world Cup. But the maximum punishment is not an even long imprisonment. It is
this eternal hell, from which there is no escape ever, for eternity!
Unfortunately, many ministers of the Church and culpably do not talk about this
anymore, but it is an integral part of the Gospel: "weeping
and gnashing of teeth" how Jesus
calls it, who suffered for us
justto save usfrom that "unquenchable
fire ... wheretheir(the damned)
worm neverdies and the fire
is never quenched(St. Mark
9:48). A terriblerealityanticipated by theprophets of the
OldTestament, andrepresentedby the Apostlesin the New Testamentwithunequivocal words: "wrath and fury
for those who are self-seeking and who obey not to the truth but wickedness.
Tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil ...
"writes the Apostle Paul to the Romans (2:8-9)." But as for the cowardly, the
faithless, the abominable, the murderers, and fornicators, the sorcerers, the
idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire
and sulfur. This is the second death "warns St.John in Revelation (21:8). And of
this "second death” also St. Francis talks in his Canticle of the Creatures (the
"morte secunda”) and all the saints before and after him have believed so, and
the Church in 6 Councils reiterated this chilling eternal condemnation,
in which so many"believers"todaydo not believe any more,
orare ashamed totalk about it.ButJesuswarned:
"Those who are ashamed ofme and of mywords... of themthe Son of Manwill also be ashamed"
(St. Mark 8:38).

Here, the prophet with the
authority of the Holy Spirit bursts into the stage of the "religious normality",
and with his provocative words and actions wants to make people return to God
and His everlasting Gospel. Of contemporary prophets I can say I know only one,
Marcello Ciai, who brought me back into the Catholic Church. When I met him in
Perugia, many years ago, I was a convinced "evangelical", and held Bible
lectures to university students. He was a former accountant and businessman, but
had "seen" Jesus and had started to follow Him without “discounts”. We remained
to talk for a whole night. I perceived that I was facing a man of true faith, he
really knew that Jesus of which I merely preached, and badly; and he spoke of
Him with the authority of the Spirit ... He than became and still is my
spiritual guide.

With regard to this
also Pope Francis has said: "Where
there is no prophecy in the Church, the very life of God is lacking and
clericalism prevails"

“Listen, oh
earth, where is your salvation? On Papeete, or in the Pope perhaps? I make it
rain according to the seasons, I have created the sowing and the grape harvest;
but you are only able to get drunk on your own ideas. Your wicked thoughts have
ruined all the beautiful things created by me, for you. Therefore misfortune and
terror will come upon you.”

I thought about
this passage from one of the prophecies of Marcello Ezekiel Ciai, of 1995, in
the aftermath of the immense tragedy of the Philippines. Words that seem too
harsh, by a God Father who, as Jesus said, feeds the birds of the sky, and not a
sparrow falls without His will (St. Matthew 6:26; 10:29). Yet, Jesus himself,
speaking of the upheaval that will precede his return, says that there will be "distress
among nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men
fainting for fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the earth" (Luke
21:25-26).

Unfortunately, it
is so: tragic events of "misfortune and terror" are occurring more and more
frequently on this our world, but we do not want to face the fact that we are in
the last times. We are afraid of the prophecy, of the very prophecies of the
Word of God, and yet more of those that the Spirit may inspire to some prophet
of our time, like the one I mentioned, in which among other things one reads:
"the Spirit says specifically...why do you say: the word of the prophets is like
the wind that has passed?...My prophetic word is forgotten, denied and shunned…But
each single word of Mine will be carried into effect and then there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.” A topic of extreme importance, now more than
ever, on which I intend to return.

At Assisi, there is great expectation for the
coming of the first Pope in history who has taken the name of Francis.
From the Town-hall Square, I feel to add two considerations
on this "epochal" visit. Pope Francis is incarnating the "minority" choice that
St. Francis made, putting himself with decision on the side of the poor,
starting with the name itself - "minores = minor" - name with which he wished to
be called, he and his friars. The choice of field made by the Pope is indisputable, and has certainly brought the Church near to the common people,
and also to a large part of the "layman" world.

But the other disruptive
aspect of the preaching of St. Francis, is his constant referring to the
reality beyond the world that awaits every man, both as compensation and
consolation of the sufferings of this life if supported "in peace", as Saint
Francis writes in the Canticle of the Creatures, and on the other hand as "woes"
that are waiting for "those who die in mortal sins", always to quote the
Canticle, in which the Saint explicitly speaks about the "second death", the
everlasting Hell!

At the side of the open
letter addressed to the Pope, in particular on the question of whether those who
do not believe and do not even search faith can be saved from the judgment of
God, there is a reflection imposing itself on the last words of the mandate
given by Jesus to his disciples before ascending to heaven. After having said
that who would believe in their preaching and through baptism join the Church, would be saved, the Lord added: "Those who
will not believe will be condemned". But these very words solemnly proclaimed by
Him who is the Truth, Jesus himself, many in
the Church do not believe in them, or do not have the courage to profess them.
Well-considered, the Gospel is a great good news, but only for some: for the
poor, for example, to which Jesus ensures that the kingdom of heaven is theirs
(Matthew 5:3): but not for the rich and the pleasure-seeking of this world, whom
Jesus warns: in the next life they will suffer hunger, they will mourn and weep (Luke
6:25).

There, Jesus has not only come to bring the
so sweet words “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened... and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:
28-29), but also the very harsh words directed to the faithless society of his
time: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Tyre and Sidon at the judgment
will be treated more bearably than you. And you, Capernaum…
will go down to Hades!” (Luke 10:13-15) And the disciples of
the Lord wherever they preached first of all brought a greeting of peace, but if
they were not welcomed they had to shake the dust from their feet, as an
eloquent last warning of the judgment that hung over those who did not listen to
their words (Saint Matthew 10:12-14).

I write these lines from
the Town-hall Square of Assisi, where by now I am staying since a long time in
penitence, waiting for some outcome from my open
letter adressed to the Pope, so that he might clarify his statement, "God
forgives those who follow their conscience", which has disconcerted not only me, but
many other believers.

My penitential
manifestation is for the love of the Church and the Pope, whom I love deeply, and
of the truth of the Gospel, which has the power to save those who believe and
repent. Well, this unusual sign of penance in the heart of Assisi is seen with a
smile of sufficiency and pitying from so many that pass by, even priests and
friars… Even if a few evenings ago, here in Assisi and in the other 7
dioceses of Umbria, a meeting of evangelization was held inspired by the
itinerant preaching of St Francis and the first Franciscans "Woe to those who
don’t do penance...they run toward their destruction!". But: do we really
believe this?

It 's written that "those who are perishing....refused
to love the truth and so be saved" (2nd letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
2:10). Yes, we must open our hearts to the love of the truth to be saved, rather
than close it for fear of the truth and be damned for eternity.

The fear of the truth arises from the fright that our saying things as they are
will make us less happy, or unhappy, or more unhappy....and yet just confessing
and professing the truth we can taste the love, joy and peace of Christ in our
hearts. Of course, in confessing my sins I have to face the suffering of
humiliation, penance and reparation for the harm done. As well as professing to
belong to Christ I expose myself to the misunderstanding, mockery - if not persecution
- from the world.

But the "love" of the truth gives us the strength to bear the "cost" of the
truth. And the truth ultimately is not a virtue opposite to the sin of falsehood,
but a person: Jesus Christ, who said of himself: I am the truth! Yes, He is the
absolute and eternal truth, and the Christian faith is not a "religion" but a
"relation" with the Risen Christ. Being a Christian, before a matter of moral
conduct, essentially means to live in a relationship of love and obedience with
Jesus: "He is the true God and the eternal life!" exclaims St. John at the end
of his first letter (5:20).

And the living person of Jesus Christ is the
true grace, of which St. Clare wrote: "Ever since I knew the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, no pain has been worrying to me, no penance too heavy, no
infirmity it was tough. to me".

The recent
railway disaster at Santiago de Compostela, where the derailment of a high-speed
train has caused so many casualties even among pilgrims coming for the feast of
St. James the Apostle, leads inevitably to wonder how the will of a God that
Jesus has taught us to see and pray as “our Father", can conciliate with such
tragic events. The saying “not a leaf stirs bur God will” has a solid biblical
foundation in what Jesus said to his disciples, encouraging them to go in the
midst of a hostile world like sheep among wolves. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet not one of them falls to the
ground without your Father's knowledge. But the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. Do not fear therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows!”
(Matthew 10:29-31). Nothing escapes the eyes of God, but God gives freedom to
his creatures, and lets them suffer the consequences of so many wrong choices
and behaviors, as it is to realize trains running at crazy speed without even
adequate security mechanisms. He does not want that a train derails and mows
down victims, but not even "wants" to intervene to avoid the inevitable, unless
He sees, in the midst of a humanity which has broken away from him and his Son,
the savior, someone who turns to him with a humble and fervent prayer for his
loving protection: "Your will be done" which is always good and always
victorious over the evil "on earth, as it is in heaven".

The recent
judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States to legalize marriages between
same-sex couples, with the exultation of Obama for this "historic step towards
equality", made ​​me
think back to the second psalm of the Psalter of the Holy Bible, a psalm
concerning the "world" and his attitude towards God "Why do the nations
conspire, why do peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth brace themselves and the rulers
together take their stand against the Lord and his anointed: - Let us break
their bonds! Let us cast away their chains! - " one reads. Yes, we are witnessing to the final
shove that the world is giving to God and his holy law. People have relativized
religion and the very notion of God to something that everyone can - if he wants
- construct at his will, as long as it does not interfere with the quiet life
of a world that has to think only about money;
but now here we are to face up
with the very
natural principles written in the conscience of every man, as the reality of
male-female couples and of the family. But this Psalm continues, "The One
enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord looks at them in derision. Then in anger He
speaks to them, terrifying them in the fury of his wrath". And this is just what’s happening on this
earth, God is manifesting his judgments, and his wrath ...

I write these things
because maybe my readers have suffered ther separation - and death ultimately
means "separation" – from some loved one. My wife GIoia has deceased and was
interred in the small cemetery of the near village, Petrignano of Assisi. Former
evangelical, like me, she rerturned back with me in the Catholic Church 33 years
ago, after having met the founder of our lay - community of benedictine
inspiration, Marcello Ciai.

The last words "cried out" from my wife
were, "Take off my shoes, take off my shoes!" Yet she was already without shoes.
But she was presenting herself to her redeemer and judge, she was entering a "holy
land”, as it was for Moses, who approaching the blazing bush, heard the voice of
God calling him and saying to him: " ....Remove the sandals from your feet, for
the place on which you are standing is holy ground "(Exodus 3: 4-5). And how
one can appear before the Lord if not with the humility of who, conscious of his
own misery, hopes only in God’s immense mercy? But yet Gioia had some merits,
even if she herself wasn’t aware of them. For many years she was in charge of
the Reception Center of the Association IACA, at Gaiche of Piegaro, meeting
difficulties of any kind, for the behavior of some people housed, the scarcity
of resources, periods of time, sometimes long, passed in loneliness. But all
these difficulties she has overcome with her faith, her prayer and the strict
and humble dependence on her community.

Before the coffin
with the body of my wife was covered with earth, it I felt, while throwing
above a handful of earth, to repeat to those who were attending, and to myself
first of all: "let us remember that we have been taken from the earth, and to
the earth we will return!" But then those words seemed to me too limited. He who
pronounced them to the first couple, Adam and Eve, after their sin (pride,
transgression, fear and hiding, justifying oneself by accusing the other: the
same our sins ...) was their Creator, who had created them to share with them
the joy of being, and of being in His likeness: He who certainly was not bored,
in his eternal and blissful trinitarian existence! But at the very moment in
which were uttered these harsh words, One of the blessed Trinity decided that he
would become man to share up to death and burial the tribulations of the fallen
humanity, and redeem it reporting those who trust in him to an existence
incomparably more beautiful than the one in which He created us. Glory to you,
Lord Jesus, who have triumphed over death, and have opened to us the way to the
Kingdom of Heaven, and are accompanying us in it!

The recent visit
of Shimon Peres in Assisi - where he received the honorary citizenship -
made ​​me reflect on God’s design and times towards his people Israel,
the Church and the world. "Pray for us all," the Israelite President had
asked the day before Pope Francis. This made me feel closer that day
when, as the Apostle Paul writes in Romans, "all Israel will be saved"
because it will recognize Jesus as the so long-awaited Messiah. Through
the ages God is faithful to the promises made to his chosen people
Israel, just as He is to the promises made to his Church that the powers
of evil will not prevail against it. It's up to us to be faithful and
save us from eternal condemnation, and enjoy eternally with Him what of
unimaginably beautiful He has reserved for those who love him.

From
Easter to Pentecost

That man
named Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified by his own people by the
hands of Roman soldiers, really resurrected!

From this, which is the "mother" of all the good news - and today we are
so much in need of some good news - many other comforting truths proceed.
I report here one, on which we should never cease to meditate: we too
will resurrect, yes, each one of us, including me and you, whoever you
are, whatever your belief or unbelief may be. We will rise with a real
body like that of the Risen Christ. Jesus said it unequivocally: "do not
be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves
will hear his voice and come out - those who have done what is good will
rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be
condemned" (Gospel of St. John 5:28-29). Yes, we will have a new body
condition with which the saved will enjoy those ineffable delights of
the kingdom of heaven of which the Holy Scriptures speak, such as when
the Apostle Paul writes: "what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived - these things God has prepared for
those who love him" (1st Corinthians 2:9). But even with their
resurrected body the damned will suffer eternal torments of hell, where,
and these are the words of the Risen Christ and therefore words of truth,
"the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark
9:48).

This is the Gospel. Words of unspeakable joy and hope of eternal life,
but also words of a tremendous prospect of eternal perdition. But
courage, the Risen Lord is near to us, and calls us to love God with all
our heart, and do good to our neighbor. And, resurrected, we will be
with Him forever in the everlasting glory!

He really resurrected
and trulyHe
will come
backto re-createan
unimaginably beautiful world oflove, joyandpeaceprepared
for thosewho love Him. He is risen!At this very momentI can turnto Him sure to be
heard andtell Him:
thank youthat you have diedand risen
forme,I come to
You, save me!Come
quicklyLord Jesus!Maranŕtha!Hallelujah!

LENT 2013

The Lent began this
year before Ash Wednesday, because two days before the news of a truly "epochal"
event has run across and stunned the world: Pope Benedict XVI announced
to leave the pontiff throne and the guidance of the Catholic Church at
the end of this month of February. A Pope aware of the historic
significance of his gesture, which would no longer leave things as
before, but who knows to put his resignation in the hands of the...
Heavenly Father, "the most Holy Father." Last year I wrote some “lenten”
thoughts starting from an exhortation made by Pope Ratzinger to the
parish priests of Rome, who should speak more to the faithful of that
sad and unfortunately unavoidable truth beyond this world that is Hell.
Also in this Lent I want to share with God's help, some thoughts that
may help to take seriously not only this Lenten period, but also the
times in which we live.

A few days after
the Pope’s announcement, another
epochal event: a meteor shower
injured, in Russia, more than a
thousand people. "The stars will
fall from heaven" Jesus forewarned
us regarding the apocalyptic events
that precede his return, "and the
powers of heaven will be shaken.
Then the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in heaven, and all the tribes
of the earth will mourn, and they
will see the Son of Man coming on
the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory...." (Matthew
24:29-30). There are still some
devotees who, convinced reciting the
"mea culpa", beat their breast, as
in a much more harsh way many did in
the past. But the
day will come - and it's close, in
which the whole world - a world that
globally has closed heaven to the
face of God and his Christ - will
beat its breast, but it will be too
late: Those instead that have
persevered in recognizing themselves
as sinners amending, will raise the
arms toward that Jesus who is
coming, so much awaited because so
much loved; and it is written – The
first letter of St.Paul to the
Thessalonians, Chapter 4 - they will
take off in flight to meet Him in
the sky. Let us profit by
this Lenten time in this period of
the story that foreshadows the
return of Christ, to return to him
with all our heart to be able to
exclaim convincedly: Maranatha, come
Lord Jesus, come soon!

"I will get up
and go to my father, and I will say to him: Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before you ..." (Luke 15:18) - so we read in the
stupendous Parable of the merciful father - we knew it as "the parable
of the prodigal son": it is the turning point of a young man who, after
having squandered everything in a distant country and having reduced
himself to hunger and to pasture the pigs, decides to return to his
father. A detail of this parable makes it feel actual for us more than
ever: there we can read that in this "far" country a great famine had
come. It 's our world: far from God, and an economic collapse that will
make return hunger even in our western countries. "Why do you say: Peace,
freedom and well-being, when these things are not here and will not be?"
- Is written in the second prophecy on Rome ("To the Pleasure seeking
City") received years ago by Marcello Ciai - "War, oppression and hunger,
I will send then upon your nations." The drama of many people who have
lost their jobs, and many families who don’t arrive at the end of the
month, is growing at an impressive rate: described in detail and in its
tragic consequences in one of the other prophecies of Marcello Ciai (Prophesy!),
this unstoppable economic collapse will put one against the other. The
way out? To do as "the prodigal son": return to ourselves, and to our
dignity as children of God the Father Almighty, leaving a world that
rotates around itself and the money and has closed heaven to the face of
God and of his Christ. To return to say with St.Francis when, stripped
naked in everybody’s presence, gave his clothes back to the miser earthly
father: from now on I will not call any more "my father Pietro da
Bernardone" but I will say: "Our Father who are in heaven".

Holy Week

These are days
of special spiritual engagement for those who believe in the passion,
the death and the resurrection of the Son of God. The church helps us
with its rituals, in many places there are solemn commemorations of the
Passion of Christ, but it may happen that the memory of what he suffered
for us can make us lose sight of what He still suffers for His Church
and this our poor humanity. Yes, after the torment of that interminable
night of torture and outrages, and those endless hours nailed on the
cross, high in the heavens, where He is now seated at the right hand of
God the Father, Jesus continues to suffer, particularly in and for his
faithful. St. Paul understood this when, on the road to Damascus where
he went to jail and kill Christians, a voice from heaven said, "Saul,
Saul, why do you persecute Me?" And since then he became the most
tireless of the Apostles, he longed to participate in the sufferings of
his Lord, he wrote: "We are joint heirs with Christ, if in fact we
suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him." (Romans
8:17) Often we know above all the more hagiographic and miraculous
aspects of the Saints, but when we come to know of so many of their
penances, and all their macerating in their body and in their spirit, we
do not understand them, or we have even a sense of rejection. We ask
ourselves: why so much suffering? Because the true love is the one that
Christ manifested on the cross, the love that suffers, and in His great
love Jesus continues to suffer for us, we make Him suffer with our sins,
with the unrepentant hardness of our hearts. While we retrace his last
most painful earthly events, the Risen one sees us and interpellates us:
"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take
up their cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) But he who really does
so, discovers with joyful astonishment that the "yoke" of Jesus is sweet,
and its "load" is light!

As in the daysof John the Baptist

There are many
similarities
between our timesand those in which"Johnthe Baptist
appeared to preachin the wilderness":because alsotoday there is
wilderness all
around us,
an advancing spiritual wilderness.The crowdswho came tobe baptized by John,asked him."What
shall we do?".In times of loss,
fearandbewildermentasthesein which we live,
where nothingseems any more
secure, we needthat God may
speak to us,
we are in need of
Prophecy.In hisprophetic ministryJohn the Baptist
spokeof the
divine justicethat hungon his
contemporaries, ifthey would'nt
repent.Butin addition todivine justice,
he also spokeof human justice:the tax collectorshadn't tocollectmore of what they
should, and peoplehad to learnthe truesolidarity:
"whoeverhas
two coats must share
one with anyone
who has none, and
whoeverhasfood must do
the likewise".
Butit is unfortunately
truethat
"nobody
takes to heartthecause of the poor",
as it recurs in
the prophecy"To the
pleasure seeking city"
- Rome - received
years ago byMarcelloEzekielCiai:a true prophetthat Godhas raised up inthe land of Assisito whipthe hardness of
heartsand
the human pride,and heraldthe imminenceof God's final
justice, next
to be realizedwith thesecond coming ofJesus to this
earth: "the great
dayis near!... Repent
as long as you are
intime!"

Christmas, the feast of feasts, as it was called
by Saint Francis. Gift of God, these festivities, a gift to all, good and
bad, just and unjust, believers and not: it is because out of that manger by
a God who became humble to the point of being born in a barn from a poor
family, echoes extremely the invitation: "Come to me, all you who are weary
and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28); "and you who have
no money, come, buy and eat without money and without price ... " (Isaiah
55:1); "Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me
will never be thirsty." (John 6:35). In the confusion of Christmas
festivities, blessed is who knows how to gather and make his own that
heartfelt invitation to go to Him, the true bread which came down from
heaven, the true gift of God for this our poor humanity, in these last times
of Divine patience. Then he, Jesus, will return: how many Christmases we
have yet to celebrate? Many signs, beginning with those of which the Lord
has spoken in His prophetic discourse, indicating His return in a near
future: blessed are those who, while celebrating His first coming, are
waiting with trepidation for His return: Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus!

In times in which the
catastrophic events that follow one another, and the new front of war between
Israel and Palestine cast fear and terror among the people, more than ever there
is current and pressing the call of Jesus in the Gospel to pray without ceasing. In
Assisi there is a new "Place of Prayer", and here's how it is risen: all
nights I stay under the
portico of the Basilica of Saint. Francis, where people come to see me to share
and pray. Late in the night also Marcello Ciai arrives, the man who thanks to God
in 1980 founded the community of which I was part from the beginning, and then
in 1991 the association Iaca. Because of his precarious health and the rigor of
some winter nights, we addressed question to the City council to have a small
space where we could withdraw to pray: a plea for help for a sick person, which was accompanied by an
attentive gesture of the municipal administration. We have restored with
diligence the old and unhealthy abandoned ex-urinal, which certainly bore no
luster to that suggestive stretch of San Gabriele dell’Addolorata Street, under
the “Piazzetta delle Erbe”. We transformed it into a small but suggestive
chapel, certainly not worrying about the non-noble origin of the place: our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, was born in a stable! To our surprise, this
place has attracted and attracts the attention of many tourists and /or italian
and foreign pilgrims: they photograph it and shove tickets with prayer requests
in the slot that we prepared on purpose in the wooden door, demands that we
honour praying there in the night . So much interest and appreciation is
evidenced by the many letters, messages and e-mails we receive from many parts
of Italy and the world. This place of prayer, therefore, is proving to be a
blessing to many, furthermore creating a very special new spiritual
attractiveness of this our land of Saint Francis.

What
God has operated in the life of Marcello Ezekiel Ciai, "the prophet of Assisi" -
to which among other things the Lord gave to write a vibrant and detailed
prophecy on the earthquake of 1997 - doesn’t finish to surprise me.As I compare
his extremely singular spiritual path with the life of St. Francis, I find
amazing "similarities", showing how God continues to intervene in a most
particular way in the seraphic, mystical and mysterious Assisi, spiritual
fortress and bastion of the Church.

Francis signed himself with the "Tau", last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. St.
Bonaventura so writes in his biography of St. Francis: "The Saint had great
reverence and affection for the sign of the Tau: he often recommended it in his
words and wrote it by his own hand in the letters he sent, as if his mission
consisted, according to the prophet’s saying, in marking the Tau on the
foreheads of those who moan and weep, earnestly converting themselves to Christ
" (see Franciscan Sources, 1079). The biblical "prophet" from which Francis took
this sign is Ezekiel, where one reads that with the "Tau" were marked those
who should escape from the extermination hanging over the idolatrous and
rebellious city of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 9.4).

Eight hundred years after St. Francis - it was about thirty years ago -, the
Lord began to manifest Himself to Marcello Ezekiel, who lived in a secluded
house on the slopes of the Subasio Mountain, with nightly visions. In the first
of these visions - quite amazing for its content - he heard a voice telling him
he had to follow the revelations of the prophet Ezekiel: "I didn’t know that
name and knew nothing about the prophet Ezekiel", Marcello wrote later in
reporting this irruption of the Supernatural in his life (see the book
"Marcello Ezekiel Ciai, Prophecies," published by the Association Iaca in 2010).

So here is mysteriously reappearing, in Assisi, eight centuries later, the
prophet Ezekiel!

But there's yet more!

In his "Major Legend" St.
Bonaventure sees in St Francis the Angel of whom one reads in the Book of
Revelation that, at the opening of the sixth seal, rises from the East carrying
the seal of the living God. In my book “From the Land of Assisi the Spirit of
prophecy on the collapse of economy” I related what a humble farmer of the land
of Assisi, who often went to pray with Marcello, told me that he had dreamed
regarding him: that is, in a dream he had met and had asked him: "But you
where do you come from?" and there came a voice that replied "He is coming from
the Smoking East! ". Therefore even Marcello, as the Angel of the sixth seal,
“comes” from the East!

And there is still more. To Francis who certainly hadn’t followed courses in
theology - in reality had not even completed the normal studies that his
companions were doing - God revealed the Tau, the last letter of the Hebrew
alphabet, as a symbol of his mission of salvation. Today, there are many
tourists and pilgrims in Assisi, who in many shops where you can find it, take
and also put on their neck a wooden "Tau", perhaps without knowing his last and
extremely serious meaning. Yes, because also on this idolatrous world of ours,
rebellious to God and his Christ, the extermination hangs over. Jesus spoke
about it clearly, in the Gospel: “For in those days there will be suffering,
such as not has been since the beginning of the creation that God created until
now, no, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one
would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, ha has cut short
those days”. (Mark 13:19-20)
And from this extermination all those who have the
Tau in their heart will escape. All those who "moan and cry" for their sins and
all those who do not get accustomed to the evil that they see around them.

So there, also to
Marcello Ezekiel - absolutely ignorant to theological things - the Lord reveals
some of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet ("HE", "HET", "BETH") that lead him
to the Psalm 118 (119), and from there to the reading of the entire Bible. One
in particular of these letters remains impressed to him, the 'HE',
, a symbol of a man who prays and sings with raised hands - Hallelujah! In the
prophecies of Marcello, the call to conversion is reinforced by the knowledge that we are in the last times: the seventh seal by now has been
opened and we are experiencing the last events of human history; the day of the
Lord, the return of Jesus, is approaching fast. For many, unfortunately, it will
be a "Dies Irae” , a day of anguish and affliction, a day of darkness and
obscurity; as already announced by one of the oldest prophets (Zephaniah 1:15).
But all those who "await with love the manifestation of Jesus" (so Paul to
Timothy, 4:8), at the return of the Lord will arise their head towards Him, as
Jesus says in the gospel; and exclaim with raised arms, as prefigured in the
mysterious "HE" revealed to Marcello: "Hallelujah! Come, Lord Jesus!"

The persecution of Christians is increasing in
various parts of the Islamic world, and at this point an explanation about the
inter-religious dialogue is necessary.

The visit of St. Francis to the Sultan of
Egypt is invoked by many as an example of this "dialogue" between the various
denominations, so much researched as widely unsuccessful.

Reading the writings of St. Francis and the
other "Franciscan Sources", it is clear that St. Francis to the Sultan of Egypt
didn't go so much for a dialogue, but with the hope of converting him: faithful
executor of the mandate of Jesus - whose Words St. Francis wanted to accomplish
"sine glossa": "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature:
he that believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe
will be condemned" (St. Mark 16:15-18).

These words do not sound "ecumenical", and
for a false research for "good peace" with other religions, many Christians are
ashamed to pronounce them. But Jesus warned: "Do not think that I have come to
bring peace on earth: I didn't come to bring peace but a sword. ... I have come
in fact to separate..." (Matthew 10:34-35). Oh yes, the Gospel separates those
who accept it from those who do not want to believe. And according to the words
of Jesus, "anyone who rejects the Gospel will be condemned".

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel", wrote the
apostle Paul to the Romans (1:16), and we ourselves are not ashamed to profess
the Gospel in its entirety, according to which Jesus, when he returns, will
judge "the living and the dead" (He will judge also Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius,
but that's another truth that many would rather not talk about).

"You seek for glory in political and
religious alliances; you talk about ecumenism; but can one put together a
rotten pomegranate with unripe lemons to make a sweet?" So the Lord inspired
Marcello to write at the end of his first great prophecy ("The Mantle") adressed
to Rome and the Church.

"Christian Integralism"? Yes, in a certain
way, but professed by those who are willing to offer their lives to martyrdom
for the love of those to whom they are proclaiming the Gospel, as it happened to
the apostles, who all died martyrs, except St. John, in various parts of the
world then known; and how it happened to the first franciscan martyrs in Morocco.

Lent 2012

Now that we are in the time of Lent, I felt to write - from here until
Easter - some considerations on this unavoidable - and undoubtedly uncomfortable
and most unpleasant - reality that is hell, of which the Holy Scriptures speak
clearly and at length, and in wich all the saints of our Church have always
believed; a truth reaffirmed over the centuries by the Church itself in not less
than six Councils.

April 2, 2012 – “Holy
Week", “different" from all the other 51 weeks of the year: because in this
week, in a special way we "announce the death of the Lord and proclaim His
resurrection", as the faithful say in the Holy Mass after the consecration of
the Host, adding: "Waiting for His coming”. But right this "waiting" for
Christ’s return - now always closer - should give a particular tone to this very
special week.

Here in Umbria there are so many commemorations of the "passion" of Jesus, in
period costume and with great involvement of the crowd: but if we participate
without the perception that He, once and for all risen and ascended to heaven,
from there searches our hearts and our feelings; and if we do not keep alive in
us the expectation of His imminent return so, as it is written: "we will not be
humiliated at His coming" but full of love and joy go towards Him in heaven, as
St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: well, then those commemorations will remain
for us only sterile folklore.

To the women who along His "Via Crucis" beat their breasts, the Lord said: "Weep
for yourselves and for your children" (how many would have died during the
destruction of Jerusalem!), then projecting his prophetic vision on our times,
in which a world castled in his ethical and religious relativism will live His
coming with surprise and dismay and, as we read in the Gospel "will beat their
breasts", but too late, "all the tribes of the earth."

So that this Holy Week should not elapse in vain: the memory of the passion and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus should move us to convert ourselves sincerely
with love and fear to Him who will soon return to separate the sheep from the
goats, in an indisputable judgment that will destine some to condemnation ant
others to eternal joy.

March 12, 2012 - Many are trying to
escape in all possible ways the indisputable statements of the Scriptures
that there is hell, and unfortunately many are those who you will be
imprisoned there forever. And then there are those who, shaking off with
conceit their shoulders, say: "Well, no one has ever came back from the
afterlife to tell us about it", although almost 2000 Easters have passed in
which the Church has celebrated the resurrection of Jesus who from "there"
has really returned, and has told us clearly how things are. Others,
insisting that God is love, even affirm that in the passages of the Gospel
dealing with Hell Jesus is speaking through hyperboles, or maybe He has
never said those words, interpolated by someone who has manipulated the
texts perhaps to frighten and keep good the people ...

The reality is that if we reread a
gospel underlining with a blue color where it speaks of Heaven and with the
red where it speaks of Hell, we shall be surprised by how much that gospel
will be coloured in red! And Jesus expects that the witness of the Holy
Scriptures with regard to Hell be sufficient to convince those who have
ears to hear. So, in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, when the rich
man, between the flames of Hell, asks Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his
brothers, that they may not finish like him in the torments, Abraham
answers: "They have Moses and the prophets" - that is, the Holy Scriptures -
"they should listen to them…. If they do not listen to Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the
dead"
(Luke 16:29-31).

Yes, Hell is there, and one can’t
escape from it, for all eternity. And, Jesus said, there are many who enter
through the wide gate and take the easy road that leads to destruction
(Matthew 7:13). It’s something that makes us shiver. From here the urgent
call of the Lord, "Strive to enter through the narrow door ... (Luke 13:24) "For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there
are few who find it." (Matthew 7:14). St. Gregory the Great, the great Pope
of the end of the 6th century, one of the four fathers of the western
Church, addressing to the crowd of the faithful who heard his homilies,
admonished them clearly more or less in these terms: "How many of you are
here in this Basilica! But how many of you will be saved?"

But how many in the Church today have
the courage to speak like that?

February 27, 2012 - My eyes fell recently on an old
newspaper article that reported an exhortation given by Pope Benedict XVI to the
clergy of Rome, that they may speak more of hell, a reality often totally
neglected in the homilies of the priests. "You have words of eternal life", said
Peter to the Lord Jesus, at a crucial moment of his ministry, when after a very
strong speech on what it meant to follow him, most of the disciples had
abandoned him. Addressing the twelve apostles, Jesus had provoked their faith
and loyalty, asking them: "Do you also wish go away?" And Peter, speaking on
behalf of all, quickly responded: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life ...". Yes, the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus is a "good news"
primarily because it promises eternal life to those who follow the Lord,
offering salvation from an eternal damnation hanging over a world hostile and
rebel against God, "He that believes on the Son has eternal life" - is written in
the Gospel of St. John, (3.36) - "whoever disobeys to the Son shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abides on him". If you do not start from the vision
of a world that, not having accepted Jesus, is already under the judgment of God,
and therefore oriented towards eternal damnation; if you do not acknowledge that
"the whole world lies under the power of the evil one" (Ist Epistle of St. John
5:19) and is going to perdition, then the intervention of Jesus in the history,
the very words "salvation" and "savior" lose their consistency, their deeper
meaning, and the same happens to that "fear of God" that the Bible indicates as
"the beginning of wisdom", starting point to really know God and receive the
redemption that He offers us in Christ.